Lifesaving apparatus



Jan. 30, 1945. MALONEY 2,368,558

LIFE SAVING APPARATUS Filed March 27, 1944 WILLIAM J. IMALONEY Patented Jan. 30, 1945 William J. Maloney, -Ansonia',.-Conn.,.assignor of 1 one-half to William F. DriscolhAnsonia, Conn.

ApplicationMarch 27, 1944,-Serial No; 528,293

'i Claims. on 9-17) This invention relates to a life saving apparatus, and has for an object to provide an improved apparatus including a harness which may be worn by a sailor or other personand is so constructed that it will keep him afloat in the water, with means attaching a line thereto carthe' floats with soft fibrousmaterial H, such for example as kapok or the like to. form cushions at the opposite edges of the belt or opposite ends of the floats to form a padding and make the harnessmore comfortable and lessen the dangerof the floats causing injury. On the front rying a number of floats, which line may be anchored to a rescue ship or means on the ship for paying out the line so that theman in th belt can enter the water and permit the rescue ship to encircle the men or women to be rescued, -at

the same time paying out the line with'the floats so that they may grasp this line and-be later drawn to the ship, or a life boat and rescued.

Another object is to provide an improved construction of belt or harness to be Worn by the man entering the water and to-which the rope with the floats may be attached.

With the foregoing and other objects in'v-i'ew I have devised the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawing and made part of this speci fication. However, it is to be understood the .device is not limited to the specific construction and arrangement shown but may embody .various changes and modifications within the scope of'the invention.

In the drawing: I

Fig. l. is a view showing .use :of the apparatus;

Fi 2 is a front view of aman'wearing'the belt. or harness;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the belt or harness spread out substantially flat;

Fig. 4 is a detail section substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. '3 and on a. larger scale;

Fig. 5 .is a view of a portionoi'" the line and floats thereon;

Fig. '6 is a side elevation of apluralityof the float blocks used within the belt, and showing, the improved means for attaching them for greater flexibility;

Fig. 7 is a detail section thereof substantially on line 1-7 of Fig. 6, and

Fig. 8 is a topplan view :showinghow they may be folded together.

The improved harness comprises-a belt lillof flexible fabric or other suitable material adapted to pass around the body of the wearer, and preferably comprises front and rear walls .H' and i2 forming compartments l3 and M, in which are carried-float blocks l5 of cork or light wood, infiated tube, or similar highly buoyant material. The front and rear walls may be stitched together between the compartments as indicated at It to keep the floats in place. Itis preferred to fill the compartments at'the opposite ends 'oi so that it may be adjusted to any desired posi- I side of 'thebelt -is also formed a relatively large pocket l8 openat the top and closed by a flap l9 which may' be secured by any suitable catch 26. This pocket is adapted for carrying'emergency articles, such for example as a knife and a bottle of stimulant.

'Theopposite ends of the belt comprise flaps 2i adapted to meet at the back of the wearer and f are provided with means for attaching a line or rope, that shown comprising a series of grommets 22 through which the end of the rope maybe passed, and the series of grommets permit adjustment for various sizes of bodies. Depending from the belt are a pair of straps 23 secured at their opposite ends to the belt and forming depending "loops through which the legs of the wearer are passed when the belt is applied so that these straps. pass through the crotch as invdicated in Fig. 2 and prevent the belt rising too high on the body and also help to hold the body upright. Extending upwardly from the belt is another strap 24 forming a loop to pass upward- Iy 'over the chest and shoulders and around the back of the neck of the wearer, as indicated in Fig; 2,; and this may have an adjusting buckle 25. Itwill be evident that these three loops will properly locate the belt on the body and retain it the proper position. Aconnecting strip 26 is provided connecting the. opposite .sides of theloop. 2.4, and it is slicla-bl'e longitudinally on. this loop tion. g

The fioats'within. the belt may be of solid blocks of cork,.light. wood or other suitable material, or they could be inflated tubes. They are, however, preferablysolid blocks of cork or similar .material as indicatedand are attached by flexible cords or fiber stripszl. .By attaching them in the manner indicated they are hinged relative to each other so that each may swing relatively 'to the others and may swing around to lieflat on each other, "as indicated in Fig. 8. This adds great flexibility to the belt, permitting it to fit properly aroundthe body and permit free movement of the. wearer. As will be seen from Figs. 7 and 8, in this improved securing means each block is provided with a pair of openings 28 extending therethrough, preferably at substantially its'center and'adjacent its opposite mum space for storage.

and the next block I50 and are again crossed between these two blocks the same as between the first two blocks and passed in opposite directions through the opening 28 in this block, and so on through as many blocks as desired. This permits the blocks to turn through all angles relative to each other and enables them to lie 'flat side by side as indicated in Fig. 8, giving great flexibility to the resulting floating assembly, and permitting it to be folded to the mini- Ihese floating elements may be permanently secured in the belt, or if desired the top edges 29 of the compartments l1 and 68 may be closed by a series of fasteners such as zippers or other fasteners, permitting the floats to be removed when not in use so that the belt and floats can be folded .and stored in a minimiun space and the floats quickly assembled within the belt when desired.

In use, when one or more people in the water are to be rescued, a sailor or other person applies the belt to his .body by placing his legs through the two loops 23 and passing the body portion of the belt around his body with the loop 24 passed over his head so as to lie on his shoulders and around the back of his neck. The con necting strap 26 will be slid upwardly to any desired position so as to retain this loop properly around the shoulders and about the neck. Then the line or rope 30 having suitable cork or other floats 3| thereon is attached to the belt through 'the fasteners 22 on the ends of the body portion which are brought together at the back of the wearer. The floats 3| may be spaced any, suitable distance but are preferably about a yard apart. The other end of the rope is anchored to the reel 32 on the rescue ship 33. The sailor or other person 34 in the harness is now ready to be placed in a life boat or to dive overboard. As soon as he does this the rescue ship will start moving away from the man in the harness and at the same time the reel on the ship will start paying ofi the rope 30 with the floats 3| and will encircle the people in the water to be rescued. As the rescue ship encircles them the rope 30 with the floats will be brought close enough for them to grasp it so that they may keep themselves afloat. haul in the rope and the floats or reel them up on the reel, thus drawing the parties being rescued to the ship or a lifeboat lowered at the side thereof, and they can then be drawn into this boat or onto the ship. The man in the harness may be in a waterproof or padded suit if. desired, especially if the apparatus is used in cold water. v a The floats 3! may be attached by any suitable means to the line or float 30 but a convenient means is to pass the rope through a longitudinal opening through the floats, as indicated at 35, and tying knots 35 in the rope at opposite ends of the floats which will effectively retain the floats at the proper spaced distance.

It is also preferred to provide the rope 30 with a pair of loops 31 forming grips whereby if the.

The men on the rescue ship can now into the water so that therope with the floats may be quickly brought to an encircling position about the parties to be rescued and to a position where it may be grasped by these parties to keep them afloat and haul them to a lifeboat or other rescue float or ship. When not in use the harness may be folded and packed out of the way in a minimum of space ready for instant use. The pocket 18 permits the rescue party to carry emergency articles, such as a kn'ife or bottle of stimulant, or the like. I

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, I claim:

,. 1. A life saving harness comprising a belt of flexible fabric including front and rear walls forming compartments, floats of light material enclosed in said compartments, soft fibrous material at the opposite ends of floats in the compartments forming cushions, said belt adapted to go around a persons body with the free ends at the back, means on said ends for attaching a rope, a pair of straps forming loops depending from the belt and adapted to pass through the crotch of the wearer, and a strap forming a loop extending upwardly from the belt and adapted to pass over the shoulders and around the back of the neck of the wearer.

2. A life saving harness comprising a belt of flexible fabric adapted to go around the body with free ends at the back provided with means for attachingarope,floats of light material inthebelt a relatively large pocket formed on the front of the belt and open at the top, a closure flap adapted to fold over the top of the pocket to close it, means for securing the flap, straps forming loops depending from the belt and adapted to pass through the crotch of the wearer, a strap forming a loop extending upwardly from the belt and adapted to pass over the shoulders and around the back of the neck of the wearer, and a strip connecting the opposite sides of the latter loop and slidable longitudinally thereon.

3. A life saving device of the character described comprising a flexible belt adapted to go around the body of a person, buoyant members carried by said belt, the opposite ends of the belt adapted to meet at the back of the body and provided with means for attaching aline thereto. a line secured to said attaching means, a plurality of floats secured in spaced relation on said line, and means for securing the other end of the line on a rescue ship and paying the line and floats out from the ship.

4. A life saving device of the character described comprising a flexible belt adapted to go around the body of a person, buoyant members carried by said belt, the opposite ends of the belt adapted to meet at the back of the body and provided with means for attaching a line thereto. loops depending from the belt adapted to pass through the crotch of the person, a loop extending upwardly from the belt adapted to pass over the shoulders and around the back of the neck of the person, a line secured to the attaching other end of the line on a rescue ship from which the line and floats may be payed out from the ship.

5. A life saving device of the character described comprising a belt of flexible material adapted to pass around the body of the person and provided with one or more compartments, means for securing the belt to the body, buoyant elements in the compartments comprising series.

of blocks of light material, said blocks each having transverse openings therethrough, and a securing means comprising a flexible cord or strip element in said compartment comprising a plu rality of buoyant blocks arranged edge to edge passing through the opening in one block, then on the opposite sides of the block and through thespace between this and the next block and I crossed in this space, then on the opposite sides of this block and in opposite directions through the opening therein, and then along the sides: to the space between the second and third blocks and crossed therein and extending in opposite directions through the opening in this block and so on to all the blocks so that they are attached to each other and may freely hinge or swing with respect'to each other so as to maintain the flexi-- bility of the belt.

6. A life saving device of the character described comprising a belt of flexible material 1 adapted to pass around the body of the person andprovided with a compartment, a buoyant and each having a transverse opening there through, and a flexible strip passing through the openings in the blocks in opposite directions and extending from each opening along the sides of the block to the adjacent edges of this and the next block and crossed to the other sides over these edges and then through the opening in the,

next block in opposite directions and so on through all the blocks to secure them together so that they are adapted to hinge and swing relative to each other to maintain the flexibility of the belt.

7. A life saving device of the character described comprising a flexible belt adapted to go around the body of a person, buoyant members carried by said belt, the opposite ends of the belt 

